The present invention relates to methods of charging for use of a facility at any of a number of access point in response to presentation of a personalised electronic storage device, such as a smart card, by a user.
In the retail trade, the concept of discounts for frequent shoppers by way of a gift or promotional vouchers is well known. Also known is the concept of volume discounts for multiple purchases of the same goods in the course of a single shopping trip. Such schemes are normally controlled by in-store computer systems which analyse the customer""s shopping history or current purchases. This is relatively efficient when the retail outlets each have a local server and database so that all data processing is within a local area network (LAN) but may be less so for the more common situation of multiple outlets or terminals having simple client processors, since much network traffic will be generated between the clients and the retailer""s remote central server and databases.
Proposals have been made for reducing network traffic in geographically separate multiple terminal retail environments by the use of smart cards, on which a customer""s transaction history may be stored, in local terminals which have sufficient stored information to be able to apply discounts and offer promotions. Smart cards, as is well known, comprise integrated circuitry including a processor and memory, formed on a card like substrate. External electrical contacts are provided to connect the integrated circuitry to a card reader into which the card is inserted.
One such system offered by Metro Business Systems is the Sharpsmart customer loyalty system described at http://www.metrosys.com.au/sharpsmart.htm, as updated Dec. 1, 1999. This system employs smart cards with a stored value in an electronic purse as well as the usual customer details. Points are accumulated with every purchase and stored on the card. Every time the card is read by a cash register, points are updated or converted into discounts or other offerings. Provided the cash registers are periodically updated with the various offers and rules, there is no need for real time network interaction.
Another retail system is described in European patent application 1014320 A1 for a xe2x80x9cMethod and apparatus for maintaining a customer loyalty program on a smart cardxe2x80x9d. This describes a more extensive retail checkout system including scanners, printers and the like. The customer""s transaction history and credit value are stored on a smart card and read by the checkout terminal which determines appropriate xe2x80x9ccustomer specific retail functionsxe2x80x9d, like a coupon or gift certificate, based on the history. No interaction with a store server or central database is necessary to determine the xe2x80x9cretail functionxe2x80x9d so network traffic is reduced. In addition to the well known points approach based on the volume of purchases or total of spending, the system may offer a reward based on the number of times the customer has shopped at the retailer within a given time period.
Outside the retail environment, such as in public transport systems or entry control systems for commonly owned or controlled historic sites or leisure facilities, the use of smart cards to serve instead of tickets is well known. An example of a multiple use smart card used as a virtual ticket in a transport system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,776 (Drupsteen) entitled xe2x80x9cMultiple Tickets on Smart Cardsxe2x80x9d.
Also well known in such systems, is the concept of the season ticket. However, users frequently pay for multiple individual instances of use (e.g. journeys or visits) when they would have been better off taking the season ticket option. Although it would be possible to allow refunds or discounts retrospectively on the basis of usage history this would normally require access to a server system and central databases storing each particular user""s history for computation of the most beneficial tariff and the provision over a network of an adjusted price to a point of access.
Whereas with single site access control systems this may be perfectly acceptable, with systems having multiple sites or points of access, such as electronic gates at stations or on-board ticket readers on public transport vehicles, such operations would result in an excessive amount of network traffic and possible delays in response.
Thus, the prior art does not offer a solution to the problem of retrospectively applying a differential tariff in a usage charging system. The discounting offered by retail systems is either general, based on accumulated points, or is a volume discount specific to a single occasion of purchase. Even the prior art retail systems described above, while avoiding network traffic, cannot handle a sophisticated retrospective charge adjustment based on a differential tariff such as is required by a usage charging system.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of usage charging at any one of multiple access points to a facility in response to presentation of a personalised electric storage device by a user at such an access point, the method comprising: recording the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility on the storage device to form a usage history for the user; in response to presentation of the electronic storage device to a reading means, comparing, at the point of access, the stored usage history with a locally stored tariff table of differential prices for different combinations of instances of use; determining any appropriate charge according to the result of the comparison and indicating the same to the user; granting permission to use the facility, upon payment of any such required charge; and adding a further record of the time and type of use permitted to the usage history on the storage device.
Thus, the charge for an instance of use is varied in dependence on the previous usage history.
The recorded time may simply be a day or date and does not have to include a clock time.
The differential prices may reflect single and multiple instances of use within different predetermined periods of time.
The preferred type of storage device is a smart card but could be a more complex device, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (hand-held computer). The tariff table may be stored on the smart card, which uses its inbuilt processing facilities to carry out the comparison, or it may be stored in a local system, which carries out the comparison. The tariff table may be updated periodically to the local system and stored there or on the smart card. In the case where a local system carries out the processing, a simple magnetic stripe card could, in fact, be used instead of a smart card to record the usage history.
Preferably, the smart card also stores a monetary value which can be altered by the amount of any determined appropriate charge. However, the reading means may be part of a terminal which is also capable of accepting money or a credit card.
The recording step preferably records charges as part of the usage history. The appropriate charge determined by the comparison may be zero or a refund.
The permitting step may comprise issuing a ticket and/or recording the permission on the storage device or smart card.
In general, presentation of storage devices at an access point will involve physical insertion in a terminal including a reader of some sort. However, the smart card option also allows wireless communication between a transmission system such as an antenna and the card so that physical insertion is not required.
Furthermore, although the most common uses of the invention will be reduced charges for a user to take advantage of a more beneficial tariff, it could also be used to increase charges in order to deter excessive use, for example, of access to inner city areas by car.
The invention also provides a computer program which, when executed on a processor of a smart card presented at any of multiple access points to a facility, causes charging for usage of said facility by any of the above methods.
According to another aspect, the invention also provides a system of usage charging at any one of a plurality of access points to a facility comprising: a personalised electronic storage device for holding user information; a plurality of reading means at respective ones of said access points for reading such a personalised electronic storage device when presented by a user at an access point; usage recording means for recording the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility on the storage device to form a usage history for the user; comparing means responsive to presentation of the electronic storage device to one of said reading means to compare at the point of access the stored usage history with a locally stored tariff table of differential prices for different combinations of instances of use; charging means for determining any appropriate charge according to the result of the comparison and indicating the same to the user; authorisation means for granting permission to use the facility, upon payment of any such required charge, said usage recording means being responsive to said granting of permission to add a record of the time and type of use permitted to the usage history on the storage device.
According to a further aspect, the invention also provides a smart card for use in a system of usage charging at any one of a plurality of access points to a facility, such system having a plurality of reading and recording means at respective ones of said access points for reading information from and recording information on said smart card and means for granting access to the facility, said smart card comprising: a first memory area for storing a usage history of the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility by the smart card user; a second memory area for storing a tariff table of differential access prices for different combinations of instances of use; a third memory area for storing a monetary value; charge determination means responsive to presentation of the card to any of the system reading and recording means to compare the stored usage history with the stored tariff table to determine any appropriate charge; means for adjusting the stored monetary value appropriately; and means for recording a permission to use the facility on the card, the system being responsive to the recorded permission to grant access to the facility.